


All the Points of the Compass

by InterstellarBlue (nagi_schwarz), nagi_schwarz



Series: The Strongest Form of Magic [2]
Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:08:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22835290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/InterstellarBlue, https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: In which the boys have an unexpectedly philosophical moment in the dorms and Myungjun reveals why he decided to become an idol.Written for the band names comment_fic prompt: "Any, any, one direction"
Series: The Strongest Form of Magic [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641382
Kudos: 20
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020, K-pop and K-drama AUs





	All the Points of the Compass

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WannaBeYourEunwoo (SherlockianSyndromes)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlockianSyndromes/gifts).



> Set a little over a year prior to [Not Some Baby Boy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22804165)

_"We must be born with an intuition of mortality. Before we know the word for it. Before who know that there are words. Out we come, bloodied and squalling, with the knowledge that, for all the points of the compass, there is only one direction. And time is its only measure."_

Jinwoo lifted his head. “Pardon?” Of the six of them, Eunwoo was the best at English, but Jinwoo was easily second-best.

Eunwoo was curled up in the corner of the couch, reading a book aloud.

Bin only understood the phrase _one direction_ and started singing the chorus of that one song that went _na na-na-na na-na-na na._

“What does it mean?” Minhyuk asked. He was sitting beside Myungjun, massaging the older boy’s shoulders after a heavy workout that morning. They were all so busy right now, between preparing for their first big concert in over a year, plus their first full album, and Sanha graduating from high school. Myungjun, who’d always struggled with his weight, had been hitting the gym hard and following a strict diet, determined to look better for the next comeback.

Eunwoo said, “He’s talking about how we know what death and dying are.”

Sanha stared at him. “You know, you’re really pretty, but sometimes you’re also really creepy.”

Eunwoo rolled his eyes. “It’s an interesting philosophical discussion. Death is scary, right? But do any of us remember when we first figured out that things die? That _we_ might die?”

Sanha blinked at him. Then he said, “I’ll keep on with my homework, if it’s all the same to you.” And he put his head down.

“High-schooler,” Bin said with fond derisiveness and reached out to flick Sanha’s ear, which he dodged instinctively.

It was rare for all six of them to be in the dorms like this, especially with both Bin and Eunwoo gearing up to film dramas in the next year and taking acting classes on top of their regular training. Jinwoo had missed the old days, when it was just the six of them, all huddled on the floor together because they had no beds, fending off cold nights and critics and all the people who said they’d never make it.

Myungjun said, “I don’t think it’s just one moment. The moment when we figure out that other things die, like bugs when we squash them, that’s one thing. And then the moment when we figure out that dying could hurt us, like losing a pet, that’s another. As for the moment when we figure out that _we_ will one day die - I figured it out when I was five.”

Jinwoo was startled by Myungjun’s solemn tone. He rarely had a serious moment, was bright and hyper like there was a camera on them even in the privacy of the dorm.

“Five?” Bin echoed. “You remember that?”

Myungjun said, “My older sister was killed by a song-eater.”

Ice curled through Jinwoo’s veins. As idols, all of them had been warned again and again about the threat of song-eaters. It was one of the reasons they were forbidden from interacting closely with any girls who weren’t part of their staff or company.

“I thought you only had an older brother,” Sanha said slowly.

“I do now.” Myungjun’s gaze was distant. “Myungsoon died when I was five. Her voice was much prettier than mine.” 

Minhyuk’s expression was unreadable. “Hyung,” he said. “I -”

“That’s why I became a singer. So I can find the song-eater who killed my sister and take revenge.” Myungjun shrugged Minhyuk off and stood up. “I’m going to my room.”

He shared his room with Minhyuk and Sanha, but neither of them would be going in there for a while. The door closed behind him with an unsettling finality.

“He won’t really do it, will he?” Sanha asked. “Hunting song-eaters is dangerous. That’s what Songbirds are for, right? They train their whole lives to hunt and kill song-eaters. An idol couldn’t kill a song-eater.”

Bin said, “I’ve heard some members of girl groups are actually Songbirds.”

“Which ones?” Minhyuk asked.

Bin shrugged. “I don’t know specifically. I’ve just heard.”

“Should we tell Manager?” Sanha cast an anxious glance at the closed bedroom door.

Eunwoo looked at Jinwoo, who nodded. As team leader, it was Jinwoo’s responsibility to handle this kind of thing.

Bin poked Eunwoo in the knee. “Say it in Korean. The thing you read before.”

Eunwoo translated it with surprising speed.

Jinwoo turned the words over in his mind.

_For all the points of the compass, there is only one direction. And time is its only measure._

“It must be different, for song-eaters,” Bin said, and he shivered. It was every singer’s nightmare, to be taken and drained dry by a song-eater, to have their very life-force stripped away through their voice. “After all, they know they can live forever.”

Eunwoo shook his head. “No, I’m sure it’s the same for them. It’s only a matter of time before a Songbird finds them.”

There was a reason that whenever an idol was asked what his ideal type was, he never said a pretty girl, because song-eaters were beautiful. Besides, it made their fans feel better, to know that ordinary girls had chances with boys who were supposed to be extraordinary.

In a song-eater’s monstrous grip, even the strongest boy would be ordinary.

Sanha nudged Minhyuk. “You’re the best martial artist out of all of us. Are you afraid of song-eaters?”

“Don’t be silly,” Bin said. “Every singer is afraid of song-eaters.”

Sanha attempted a grin. “Not Jinwoo-hyung. But then he can’t sing.”

“Yah!” Jinwoo swatted at him, but he dodged.

Minhyuk said, almost too softly to hear, “You have no idea how afraid I am.”

**Author's Note:**

> Eunwoo is quoting from Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead
> 
> Bin is singing One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful


End file.
